BRIDGEWATER — Growing up in Onset, Dana Mohler-Faria never imagined he'd go to college, let alone forge a career in higher education.

"Neither of my parents were educated; in fact, neither one of them got to high school," said Mohler-Faria, who has been president of Bridgewater State University since 2002.

"Although (education) was viewed as an important thing, really it was more about a strong work ethic, finding a job, and so education was not very high-value at that time."

Instead, after graduating from Wareham High School — with grades that wouldn't have gotten him into college anyway, according to Mohler-Faria — he enlisted and spent four years in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War.

"It really is a period of time that changed my life," he said of his military service. "It made me realize that I really did need to get an education."

And after he was discharged from the Air Force, that's exactly what he did: first at Cape Cod Community College (CCCC), and then at Boston University, where he finished his undergraduate degree and went on to receive a master's degree. Mohler-Faria, who is Cape Verdean, also has a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

He started on his career in higher education at CCCC while he was still in graduate school and joined Bridgewater State in the early 1990s as the vice president for administration and finance.

Under Mohler-Faria's leadership, Bridgewater State has grown tremendously, expanding its student body and its faculty ranks and investing more than $300 million in capital expansion and infrastructure improvements.

And as much as Mohler-Faria has done for the university's community, he has also been deeply invested in the communities of southeastern Massachusetts. He views it as the university's mission not just to provide an excellent education to students who enroll there, but also to ensure that as many kids from southeastern Massachusetts make it to college as possible.

For his belief in all students across SouthCoast and his commitment to bringing Bridgewater's resources to their aid, Mohler-Faria has been named The Standard-Times SouthCoast Man of the Year.

Nominations for the award came from the community and members of the newspaper staff. Recipients were selected by a newsroom committee.

Mohler-Faria has felt the transformative power of education in his own personal life, said Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville, and is determined to make sure as many young people as possible feel that power themselves.

"He realizes it's our obligation ... to make that particular experience he had the general experience for all young people, particularly for those who are caught in achievement gaps," he said.

Reville said that his first thought — as it is for others in state leadership roles — when an issue, or question, arises related to higher education is: I need to talk to Dana.

"Thanks to Dana's leadership at Bridgewater State and beyond, thousands of students have access to a world-class education," said Gov. Deval Patrick, for whom Mohler-Faria served as a special adviser for education. "Dana has shown a generation of leaders that through optimism and effort, anything is possible."

About four years ago, Mohler-Faria's commitment to the surrounding communities led Bridgewater to establish a program working with about 25 students from Brockton who were widely believed to have little chance of making it to high school graduation.

Those students have been on campus every week since the program kicked off, working with student mentors and getting a glimpse of what college is like.

Part of the promise Bridgewater made to those students four years ago was that any of them who graduated from high school and were accepted at Bridgewater would receive a free education.

Twenty-four of the original group are still in the program, and it looks like somewhere between 11 and 15 of the students will go on to college, said Mohler-Faria.

"We have come to understand that providing a high quality education for our students is one aspect of our mission, but there's another aspect of the mission of a place like Bridgewater, and that's to operate in the interest of the public good," he said. "We need to become ... part of the fabric of the community and work in partnership with communities to raise the standard and quality of life in the region."

This summer, Bridgewater will kick off a collaboration with the New Bedford schools in which about 300 middle school students will be brought to the campus for several weeks of residential intensive study as well as lessons in life skills and other subjects.

Students from the university will work with the New Bedford middle schoolers during the session and will continue to work with them once they return to New Bedford.

"Don't tell me that kids can't learn, or don't tell me we can't change this; we can, and I think it just takes a serious focus and commitment," said Mohler-Faria.

"That's why we're taking these 300 kids from the New Bedford district and bringing them here, to give them exposure and a sense of hope and to try and instill in them a sense of self-worth ... so they understand that they are very capable."

According to outgoing Mayor Scott W. Lang, it is crucial for New Bedford to have partners, such as Bridgewater, that can do things for the city that it can't do alone.

"I think that's the key with Dr. Mohler-Faria," said Lang. "He throws the entire resources of the university at the issues New Bedford has."